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Richard
An undead Warlock who willfully sows destruction without any provocation whatsoever, Richard is Cale's character foil and serves as the strip's comic relief. He is depicted as manipulative, powerful, and exceedingly evil, although he is also childishly playful. Richard is very sensitive about his less-than-threatening name and reacts aggressively to Cale's nickname for him - "Dick". His companions often react mildly to his frequently psychopathic activities. His titles include Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead, and mayor of a little village up the coast which he describes as "quite scenic in Spring". He whimsically decided to add "Lord of the Dance" to his list of titles later on and, upon killing Ashella, took her title of "Mistress of Magma" for himself.. During a court trial with demons the judge refers to Richard's mortal self as "Lord Ashendale." Because he is undead, Richard can sustain normally serious injuries without dying or even experiencing pain; he believed that a torture chamber the group was sent to was a spa (although he may have only been joking). A running gag in the series, in fact, is Richard being impaled by a sharp object thrown at him from off screen. He is also light in weight, enough for Cale to shoot an arrow with Richard attached to it with little effort. Richard claims to be traveling with Cale out of sheer boredom and for opportunities to kill things. He used to have a companion - an imp named Hctib Elttil (whose name, Richard claims, accurately describes its place in their relationship) - but it ran away. He has a habit of singing at inopportune times or when in battle. In addition to his prodigious magical power, Richard was shown to be skilled enough in hand-to-hand combat to easily take out several trolls within seconds, claiming that he 'drained the soul of a monk once', and that it 'tasted like chocolate'. Richard seems to have as much (if not more) control over Cale's companion pet, the panther Sooba, as Cale himself does, even going so far as being able to summon the cat to his side in battle("Madness? This is Sooba!".) Richard also has his own pet, a rabbit whom he seems to care for, and who in turn cares for him, such as when Richard returned from his banishment to the 'Plane of Suck'. It is later revealed that the rabbit is in fact the Archmage of Kethenecia, whom Richard offers the use of his army to. Though it would seem that Richard's only goal in life is to sow death and destruction wherever he goes (after all the other characters have explained their various motives behind their quest of finding the lost Sword of Truth, he simply states "I. LIKE. TO. KILL. THINGS. (How is that not clear by now?)", it is implied there may be some additional motivation within him. The Phares, elemental spirits whom Richard harnessed the power of, said that they saw another presence behind the darkness, which Richard shrugged off by saying "I'm very deep." On the flip side, he once saved the life of a young child - an oddly selfless act for him. However, Richard may have done this in order to break a curse placed on him by Hctib, his imp, who returned to punish Richard. It could have been accidental due to the fact that the child was very physically close to him. However, it was stated that only an act of selflessness could break the curse, hinting that this act might have been genuinely selfless. Also, while on trial he stated that, like Cale, he was on a path he was compelled to follow, and after killing most of demon court he left stating that for the first time in a hundred years he had a goal. Most recently, Pretty, Pretty Unicorn, the little village up the coast which serves as the source of Richard's power, has been taken over and converted by Legara. To save it, Richard traveled there with Maikos, Sooba, and the bunny. Richard measures his existence in at least hundreds of years. During much of this time, he had forgotten portions of his life before he became undead, but some of the memories are returning. On page 338 it shows that Richard used to be a little kind hearted boy. Known Powers and Abilities -''(Fire)'' Most prominently, Richard demonstrates his power over fire. Often referred to as his "fwoosh", varying degrees of flame based attacks seem to be Richard's standard method of devastation. -''(Ice)'' Though less used that fire, Richard also commands a variety of spells based on ice and cold attributes, such as encasing himself in a large block of ice to shield both himself and Cale from a lava flow. -''(Necromancy)'' Richard has on occasion shown that he can control the skeletal remains of enemy combatants(or more specifically, he can force his enemy's skeleton to rip off it's own skin and then fight at Richard's command). -''(Portals'') Though he doesn't seem able to create portals at will, Richard has the ability to power already existing portals. He does demonstrate the ability to control space/time while trapped on the Plane of suck, but it is unknown whether or not this is one of his regular abilities, or something unique to the Plane, as Richard himself was unsure of his ability to use these powers. -''(Possession)'' Richard has the ability to inhabit the bodies of others, through the use of the magical gem that he wears. When possessing others, he retains control of his other powers. -''(Near Immortality)'' Richard has been shown to been hundreds of years old, has survived numerous normally fatal injuries such as being decapitated or having holes in his chest, and has even survived an axe to the brain, a normally fatal wound for an undead. It is important to note however, that Richard is not truly immortal. This is demonstrated in the Plane of suck when Richard uses his new found time/space powers to create copies of himself, only to murder them moments later. ---- Trivia ''-Sometimes when characters are listing off the cast's races Richard is referred to as "miscellaneous".'' ''-His battle cry is "For Pony." He argued about this with Cale who didn't think it was serious enough for a war cry.'' ''-Richard has killed parodies of such characters as Frodo Baggins, Obi Wan Kenobi and a Smurf.'' ''-He often makes references to things in popular culture, such as Martin Luther King Jr., The judges of American Idol, Rick Astley, Street Fighters, A Few Good Men, and a reference to Transformers, in the form of the Universal Greeting. "Bah weep granah weep ninni bong".'' ''-Richard is one of the few characters with his own unique dialogue color scheme, the others including Tim, Hctib Elltil, and Sooba.'' ''-Richard is something of a craftsman, and has been seen to create things such as a hat made from a kidney, a wallet made from a smurf, a bed from the hides of several bears, and a throne made from the bones of the fallen Bloodrage Clan.'' See Also Richard appearances